Pretty young thing I
by jediclonecowgirl
Summary: Ginny has been asked by Cedric to go to the Yule Ball with him. This is her night with the Hufflepuff champion.


_**A Word from the Author: **_Hello again, it's jediclonecowgirl, with my first Harry Potter Yule Ball fiction. You know me...I like to change stuff...and this lovely piece goes about how things would've worked out, if Harry had Cho as his date and Ginny would've gone with Cedric. The main thing goes on Ginny though.

One last touch to her make-up, the hairclip with the artifical lillies into her hair...this was it. Cedric could come. One last look into the mirror...Ginny didn't reconize her reflection. She looked nothing like herself. Her dress was silver with black flower patterns and combined with silvery flat shoes. When you took this and her make-up she actually looked older, then she really was, but this was actually quite good, since she would be on the arm of one of the most popular boys at Hogwarts after all and she did not clearly want to look like a child. The only question she asked herself was why she actually did that. She hadn't wanted that. When Cedric had asked her to go to the Yule Ball with him, she had certainly been amazed, because she couldn't figure out, why the most popular Hufflepuff in the entire school would want to go to the ball with little Ginny Weasley, but she had said yes after all. The same day she had witnessed Harry asked Cho Chang, the seeker of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team.

Harry...she had actually been meaning to ask, if he wanted to go to the Yule Ball with her. She picked up the small photo on her nightstand. It had been taken this summer at the Quidditch World Cup. Harry was hugging her from behind and grinning widely. She herself was laughing and trying to push him off, with her elbows. Why was fate so cruel? Why did fate not want Harry and her to be together? Why had she agreed to go with Cedric?

_"C'mon Ginny! Pull yourself together! Many girls would kill to be in your shoes right now and you get all mopy about going to the Yule Ball with Cedric Diggory!", _Ginny mentally scolded herself then, placed the photo back on her nightstand and left her dormitory.

When she got down from the staircase of the girls she already encountered other Gryffindor girls, who were on their way to find their dates. Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown got eyes as big as plates, when Ginny walked past them and then began to bow their heads together. Ginny knew, that they would probably get heart attacks, when they would see her with her date. In the common room she could also see her brother Ron in his silly dressrobes pacing around in front of the boys staircase. Ginny chuckled slightly. He was waiting for Hermione. Just yesterday Hermione had told her, that Ron had finally plucked up the courage to ask her to the ball. They had been crushing on each other for, what seemed like ages to Ginny. Even her own brother got wide eyes, when he saw her.

"Whoa...Ginny? Is that you?", he stammered.

"Hi Ron...", she only replied.

Then she left through the portrait hole. Cedric had told her, that he'd be waiting at the Great Hall. Luckily she could go down a bit in the crowd and she didn't go to the hall straightaway. She hid behind a wall and pondered for a while. Would Harry reconize her or would he be too busy with Cho? Surely the latter would be the case. For a moment she really concidered dropping out of this, but she knew she couldn't, since she would be leaving Cedric in an awful bind. Champions had the duty to bring a date after all and if she dropped out Cedric would be the fool. It wasn't like she had a crush on him, but he was such a kind guy and didn't deserve to be humilliated like this. So she came out from her hiding place and walked all the rest way to the hall. The other champions were waiting there with their dates and so was Cedric. Harry and Cho, Fleur Delacour and her date Roger Davies and Krum and his date Eloise Midgeon, but she also had not idea, why Krum had taken her. It was probably the same thing with Eloise and him, like it was with her and Cedric. Unfortunately Cho Chang was the first to see her.

"She looks beautiful.", she breathed.

"Yeah she does.", Roger Davies said glancing at Fleur, but Cho made him turn his head.

Great! Just bloody brilliant! She certainly did not need Cho bloody Chang to make all of the champions and their dates look at her. She did not do this for attention or popularity after all. Still...she walked gracefully down the stairs to meet Cedric.

"You look amazing Ginevra.", Cedric said and offered her his arm.

"How many times Cedric...it's just Ginny.", was her response.

She knew Cedric was only trying to be polite, but she hated to be called by her full name. It made her sound like she was some kind of old lady. Ginny sounded much nicer, since she was only thirteen after all.

_** 00000000000000000000**_

Eating at the head table with the other champions and their dates was quite okay. Cedric and her seemed to be the only ones talking normally though. With the others it was kind of awkward in Ginny's eyes. Harry and Cho seemed to struggle to get clear sentences out, Roger Davies was glancing at Fleurs breasts a little too often, she maybe was arrogant, but that was gross and when it came to Krum and Eloise Krum was doing most of the talking. Suddenly Cedric placed a hand on her arm. She was about to brush it off, but he was obviously doing it to get her attention.

"Ginevra...we gotta dance now. The champions and their dates are going to open the dance.", Cedric said.

"It's Ginny...", she sighed and then took his hand.

The Weird Sisters started to play their first song for the night and Ginny kept her eyes locked on Cedric, because otherwise she probably would've stepped on his feet and that never worked out good, when it came to ball stuff. Luckily she knew how to dance, her mother had taught her as a kid, and Cedric was one hell of a dancer too.

"You dance quite good.", Cedric said.

"Likewise.", Ginny replied.

She wished it was Harry, she would hear those compliments from. She wished it was Harry, who she was dancing with now, but he seemed to busy laughing with Cho Chang to pay any attention to her. While eating they had barely spoken two sentences to each other. Suddenly Ginny almost wanted to shriek, since Cedric had suddenly wrapped his hands around her waist and lifted her off her feet. Did Cedric fancy her, or why did he do that? The champions and their dates weren't alone on the dancefloor anymore. Ron and Hermione were dancing not far from Eloise and Krum and Fred and his girlfriend Angelina Johnson were dancing so wildly, that the other couples had to jump aside swiftly so they wouldn't get hit by them.

"Cedric...can we take a break?", Ginny asked and Cedric nodded politely.

They walked over to a small table and sat down there. Cedric went of with the words, that he would go fetch them some drinks. Ginny tried to play herself out scenarios, what she could say to Harry, if he really would come over to her.

_"Hey Harry...hope your having fun..." _

Ginny scratched the sentence quickly. It sounded stupid and dumb.

_"Cedric has gone off to get drinks. Would you care to join us?"_

Absolutely not! If she did ask this, he would probably go bringing Cho with him and Ginny certainly did not want to see Cho at all. It was bloody hopeless. Everything she could still hope for was, that Harry would come over once this night and ask for a dance. Still...he seemed to be having too much fun with Cho to do so. They were still dancing, when Cedric came back with two glasses of butterbeer in his hands.

_** 000000000000000**_

"...and then he shows me the next page and the guy yells 'STOOOP! HE GOT LOST AGAIN!'.", Ginny said and laughed slightly.

To her amusement Cedric laughed as well. It was almost easy to hold a conversation with him. Ginny was telling him about the time, where Fred and George had acted out a scene from a muggle comic to amuse the entire common room. Cedric was in the same year with them after all. Suddenly Cedric's expression grows different and almost serious.

"Do you want to go for a walk Ginevra?", he asked.

"Alright.", Ginny replied, since she had given up telling Cedric to call her Ginny.

They walked around quietly, until they arrived at the wooden bridge at Hogwarts. It was cold and Ginny shivered slightly. Cedric noticed and took off his dressrobes, before wrapping them around her.

"Thanks.", Ginny murmured and at this moment she felt sorry, that she had been kind of mean to hin all through the ball.

Cedric didn't seem to have noticed it though and wrapped and arm around her to pull her close to him.

"If my brother Ron was here, he would probably murder you for this.", she whispered.

"I don't think so.", Cedric whispered and pointed over to a spot further away from them.

There were Ron and Hermione and they were busy kissing. Ginny grinned and turned back to Cedric. She still felt sorry, that she had been kinda mean.

_** 000000000000000000000**_

Ginny actually felt like a princess in the muggle books. She was dancing at the last waltz of the ball. Cedrics arms were wrapped around her protectively and her head was resting against his shoulder. Ginny had a broad smile on her face. After the waltz ended Cedric escorted her up to the tower and then gave her a quick peck on the lips.

"Good night...Ginny.", he whispered.

"Night Cedric.", she returned his comment and flushed slightly.

It had been a great night after all.

_**Ending Word: **_Well...this is something different from me. I mean...I am certainly not a Cedric/Ginny shipper, but I like how this turned out. Yeah...I made Ginny wear another dress, then in the books, because she was supposed to look older for Cedric. This touch was just kind of important for the story. If you want me to I can write companion one-shots about the other couples at the Yule Ball, that are different from the way they are in the books. I hope you liked this story and I hope, that you'll leave some reviews behind. Now all I have left to say is bye, bye and _**mischief managed.**_


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